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The Book of Manning

I just watched The Book of Manning for the third time. It is so much more than a story of the First Family of Football…. It is a story about being a parent and a father. Here are some quotes from the show…. I transcribed as best I could.

“For them to be #1 picks, win the Super Bowl, and be MVP’s…. yeah, we pinch ourselves. We just tried to raise good kids and have a good family. I don’t like the perception that it (having the boys play pro football) was a plan”

Archie Manning on his sons playing in the NFL

“There were 8 QB’s signed to go play freshman football at Ole Miss. It was kind of the job of the freshman coach to get these numbers down a bit. We had 4 games with 3 weeks of practice in between… there was hitting… a lot of hitting… our coach Walter Davidson used to say, “don’t worry, your not going to die… you’ll pass out before you die””

Archie Manning on signing to Ole Miss

“I was kind of rolling along… playing college football enjoying life… then BAM… I was the one that found him and was able to get things together so my mother and sister didn’t walk in on that”

Archie Manning on finding his father after he had committed suicide

“Going back to school I had some tough nights up at Ole Miss… you know, missing my mother and sister and thinking about them… trying to concentrate on football… I needed to handle all that… football is a team sport and I’m not sure I was yet a man… I felt like I had to be a man”

Archie Manning on going back to school his junior year

“I thought about him a lot… how much he would have enjoyed it… probably the best year I ever had in football…. Fall 1969… I wish he could have seen that… missing my dad – that was pretty tough”

Archie Manning on his junior season at Ole Miss

“People always think there must be negative feelings about my years in New Orleans… we started our family and were so grateful and blessed to have these kids… We got our first house and had no furniture. We played knee football in the living room. I kinda hated it when we got furniture because it messed up our football”

Archie Manning on his time in New Orleans

“I wasn’t necessarily trying to expose them to it [football], I was just trying to spend time with my kids”

Archie Manning on bringing his kids to work

“I lost my dad at a young age… we were so blessed to have these kids… I wanted to hug them… to tell them that I loved them”

“My football as a child WAS in the back yard. I think that had a big impact on me having this real passion for football because he held me out”

Peyton Manning on not being allowed to play tackle football until 7th grade

“I didn’t take coaching all that well. One game we lost to a team and coach said it was because we didn’t execute the game plan… I actually said, “no we lost because you don’t know what your doing”… My dad drove me to the coaches house and I had to go up and apologize”

Peyton Manning on playing youth football

“That was the most enjoyable fall we have had in football”

Archie Manning on watching Cooper (Sr WR) and Peyton (soph QB) playing on the same team

“I think what I miss most about football is the guys… and … uh… its not winning or losing or catching touchdowns… it was like the locker room and bus rides home”

Cooper Manning on being diagnosed with a congenital narrowing of his spine

“I had trouble talking to Cooper about it [not being able to play] so I wrote him a letter… what it said was that although he could not play anymore, he could live out his dream of playing through me”

Peyton Manning on Cooper not being able to play football

“I guess at an early age, my dad taught me that if you want to be successful at whatever you do, you must have a great work ethic”

Peyton Manning on his work ethic

“I just never felt it was my responsibility to force my son to go to Ole Miss. He was going to decide where to go to college with just our support… not our influence, but support.”

Archie Manning on Peyton’s decision to attend Tennessee

“Peyton made a great decision … it was the right place for him”

Archie Manning on Peyton’s decision to attend Tennessee

“Coach Cutliff (OC at Tennessee) wanted my dad to sit in on the offensive installation meeting…. 30 minutes into the meeting I look over and my dad is asleep… it was his way of saying y’all coach him on the X’s and O’s… he was just going to be a parent first”

Peyton Manning on Archie being a football dad

“He came to all our games… I knew that was important to him… I knew my dad was coming to my game”

Peyton Manning on Archie as a football dad

“Some time you have to mess up a little bit to wake up”

Archie Manning on Eli being charged with drinking his freshman year at Ole Miss

“Realizing what my dad experienced… finding his father… I think that certainly had an impact on how dad raised us”

Peyton Manning on Archie as a father

“I’ve never regretted spending time with my family… spending time with my children… we really have been blessed there”

Archie Manning on fatherhood

“My dad is very loving…. Hug every morning and every night…. I want to have that with my daughter”

Eli Manning on parenthood

“One of the neater things is that he is not only my dad… he is my best friend”

Peyton Manning on Archie

“My dad was driving me to college… to the first day of football practice… he said “find something that you like… that you are good at… but I just want you go be a good guy”…. That is what I wanted to be with my children… I hope they think I’m a good guy”

Archie Manning on advice from his father

I have to believe that his children think Archie is a good guy.

Remember – You Can Do More… your brain is lying to you…. Don’t Believe It!